Page 179 - Basic Japanese

with kaer-u ‘returns’) to an infinitive:

nori-kaeru changes trains (‘ride-
changes’)

ii-kaeru rephrase

Still another kind of compound verb is made by adding
either hajimeru ‘begins something’ or dasu ‘puts something

out; starts something’ to an infinitive:

yomi- begins to read
hajimeru

hashiri-dasu starts to run

A special type of compound is made by adding sugiru ‘is
in excess’ to a verb infinitive (or to just the stem of an

adjective, or to a copular noun):

tabe-sugiru eats too much
hataraki-sugiru overworks

oso-sugiru is too late

ōki-sugiru is overly large

shizuka-sugiru is too quiet

The following sentences have compound verbs:

Mikka mae kara ame ga furi-dashite, ima mo mada furi-
tsuzukete imasu.
It started to rain three days ago, and it is still

raining now.